Something to Fill the Void:Addicted to The Love of Food

Until the age of ten or so, when asked what I wanted for dinner the answer was invariably “McDonald’s.”  According to my father, I wanted to eat Thanksgiving Dinner there on a number of occasions.  Something about the warm, wet fries, the cheerful box of fun, and the complimentary toy served with every Happy Meal thrilled me every time.  To this day, I still get a little guilty thrill with every french fry that I inhale.  I remember happiness when eating those fries from the big red container with the golden arches on the front, and it is happiness that I still feel with every mouth-watering bite.

Now that I’m in my late twenties, such indulgences always lead to extra time spent at the gym and moaning and groaning about my hips in front of the mirror.  The joy of the food is fleeting…I have to go back to it time and time again to get that short-lived rush.   Too bad I couldn’t have developed a serious love of yogurt instead.  But the ads we see tell us that chocolate will make us happy, and we can spy a bevy of thin, good-looking people guzzling beer and dancing around bowls full of potato chips on television every day.  Everywhere we look there is another fast-food restaurant, most now offering dollar menus and quicker-than-ever service.

Does anyone have a healthy relationship with food?  In today’s world when everything is on-the-go, delivered through a window, or heated up in the microwave, how are we supposed to know which habits are healthy and which are not?